Ben and Frank got to go a few rounds against each other with Street Fighter IV …

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Street Fighter IV was a game that everyone at Opposable Thumbs is really looking forward to. We had the chance to sit down and play a few rounds against one another at Capcom's E3 booth, so we thought we'd bring you two separate views on one huge game.

Frank

I was blown away by Street Fighter IV. I was one of the critics who wasn't too big a fan of the new look initially, but after sitting down at an arcade cabinet in a lush Capcom booth and going a few rounds with the title, I've totally flip-flopped in my opinion. This game looks amazing, but what's perhaps most impressive is that it still looks 100% Street Fighter in motion. The characters and the environments don't contrast as sharply when the game is in motion on the screen as they do in the shots and videos: this game basically looks like a super-pretty, high-definition version of the game we all know and love, reimagined with this new art style.

Though it was easy to jump into my comfortable strategies with Ken, I was surprised at how many changes have been made to the move sets and the otherwise-familiar tactics. Given that there's so much more animation now, more frames, and more fluidity to the motions, veterans of the series won't be able to use their old strategies perfectly from the get-go. You really have to readjust your timing to match the new animations. Not that I'm complaining: the visual pop and improved glide of Ken's new firey Shoryuken filled me with joy when I landed it on Kuchera—and don't even get me started on the bout I won against him with a super special.

Without any real guidance from the staff, it was hard to get a feel for the new revenge system. We basically played the game as though it were Capcom vs. SNK or what have you, building up power and then unleashing a special. Hopefully, we'll see more of that in the future. Overall, though, I was pretty impressed. I can't wait to play more.

Ben

You know what the new graphics look like, so I won't waste time describing them, but feeling the game in action is a new thing entirely. It's responsive, fast, and the new graphics give everything much more detail without sacrificing that thing that makes Street Fighter, Street Fighter. This feels like a 2D game, and I mean that in the nicest possible way.

I'm not even a competitive fighting game player, so Frank was able to pick me apart pretty easily, but I had a great time with the title. We were about to play a few sets of matches, and the game is fun to just pick up and play, but the question remains about how well the characters and play are balanced. That's something we won't be able to answer until the championship-level players pick the title apart for a few weeks when it's released, but the new art, new characters, and game play updates make this feel like an actual sequel to Street Fighter III. That's a very good thing.